The super-competitive “Jeopardy Masters” 2024 tournament continued Friday, May 10, with a match-up fans have been eagerly anticipating, which saw the top three players so face off against one another.
(No cable or satellite? You can stream “Jeopardy Masters” via Fubo, which offers a free trial.)
Victoria Groce, who entered the game at the top of the “Jeopardy Masters” leaderboard, competed against Vancouver’s Yogesh Raut, who was in second place, and James Holzhauser, the winner of the last “Jeopardy Masters” tournament, who was in third place.
Not surprisingly, it was a close game, with “Daily Double” clues helping boost scores, and plenty of brain power on display. When it was time for “Final Jeopardy,” Groce, a writer and television personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was in the lead, with 20,800; Raut, a cognitive and behavioral scientist, was in second, with 18,400; and Holzhauer, the Las Vegas-based self-described “Final Boss” of “Jeopardy!’ was close behind, with 18,000.
“This tense game comes down to one clue,” host Ken Jennings said, introducing the “Final Jeopardy” category, “The American Theater,” and the clue: “Director and author, their 1960 rift over a new play set in the South ended ‘The most important…collaboration’ of 20th century U.S. theater.”
In a tournament that’s been packed with hard “Final Jeopardy” questions, this one didn’t seem as challenging, with director Elia Kazan and playwright Tennessee Williams seeming like a relatively easy guess for this trio of brainy players. That was the correct answer, but Holzhauer, surprisingly, guessed wrong, writing, “Who are Williams and Kubrick?” He wagered 3,268, dropping his total to 14,732.
Raut had the right answer, and a big wager of 17,601, which raised his total to 36,001.
Groce also had the correct response, but her wager of 3,200 left her with a total of 24,000, giving Raut the win. That earned Raut 3 more points, while Groce earned 1 more point, and Holzhauer earned zero points.
In the game preceding the battle of the “Jeopardy Masters” stars, Matt Amodio, a quantitive researcher from New York; Mattea Roach, a writer and podcaster from Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Amy Schneider, a writer from Oakland, California, competed. All three were tied with one point each.
When “Final Jeopardy” time came, Schneider was in the lead, with 26,400; Roach was in second, with 18,000; and Amodio was in third, with 8,000.
The “Final Jeopardy” category was “The 20th Century.” The clue: “Hearing about the speech that launched this eponymous process, the head of the CIA wondered if Nikita Khrushchev had been drunk.”
The correct answer: What is de-Stalinization?” All three players knew it, and Schneider came through with the win, betting 9,601 for a total of 36,001. She earned three points for the victory, Roach earned one point for finishing second, and Amodio, in third place, had zero points.
The leaderboard going into Monday’s game has Groce at the top, then Raut, Holzhauer, Schneider, Roach and Amodio. On Monday, Groce, Holzhauer and Amodio will compete, in Game 9. Raut, Schneider and Roach will compete in Game 10.
The players who accumulate the most match points during the tournament will compete in the finals for the grand prize of $500,000.
